If you have seen the video of his first meal, you wouldn't think this is the case, but since his first meal, he has eaten very little. He did eat a good amount of butternut squash once and green beans once, but other than these 3 meals, he grimaces, gags, and spits everything out. When I mix rice cereal with breast milk, he doesn't seem to have an aversion to the taste/texture, he just isn't interested in swallowing it.

I'm trying to keep the eating experience pleasant, so as soon as he starts to fuss, I stop feeding him and take him out of the highchair.

What he does seem to like is the flavor of apple, which I've given him in a Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder

I steamed and pureed some organic Cameo apples tonight. I wanted to delay introducing fruit until after he accepted the vegetables, but I'm also interested in just having him practice eating, so I'm trying to find something he likes. Banana didn't work today. I'll try the apples tomorrow.

I'm also trying to figure out the best way to deal with the mess. I tried a large diaper attached with a clothes pin the other day.

1.8.10

Sometimes the presence of food in his mouth is so disturbing he needs to suck his thumb for comfort. This of course greatly increases the mess.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

At 6 months, IJG weighs about 17 pounds and is 26.5 inches long. He gets around by rolling all over the place. He especially loves to roll to the edge of rugs so he can mouth the hard/cold floor. He is sitting well but still can't be trusted not to fall over. He is still napping twice a day and we can only get him to sleep 9-10 hours at night. His bed time went from 7 pm to 8:30 pm. He isn't waking up all through the night anymore. Now he wakes around 5:30 am and we try to get him back to sleep until 6:30 am (his breakfast time). He babbles constantly. His current favorite is to repeat "dadada" in various octaves. He also pants like a dog in preparation for fussing. He has become very interested in water and enjoys watching it pour from a faucet or drip off my hand during baths. He has been breastfeeding just 5 times a day for a couple weeks now and had his first non-milk meal the eve of his 6 month b-day. We started him on avocado (thinned with water). He loved it. Today he had butternut squash. At first it seemed that he didn't like the squash or didn't want to eat, but several tries in he started acting just as he had with the avocado and finished the 2 tbsp I had prepared (and clearly wanted more). I've been cooking, pureeing, and freezing vegetables in preparation for future meals. I freeze them in small portions and then bag and label them. We're starting with 1 meal a day and will move on to 2 soon. IJG graduated to the next class level at school when he returned from the holiday break. This class has more floor space for crawling and toys for the babies to play with. He still shows no reaction to my leaving him at school for 3 hours each morning. IJG is a happy baby. He smiles at anyone who smiles at him first. He giggles if we tickle his tummy and cackles if we rub our heads on his tummy. He likes being on the floor and chewing on his toys. He still loves baths. Anything physical, like twirling him around, raising him up above our heads, or holding him upside down is a favorite of his. He likes to sit in the swing at the park. His hands are constantly out and trying to grab on to anything he can reach. He also looks where we point now. He got sick once this month, but it was short lived and appeared to be a mild cold.